Boeing comes clean on the Army’s Quiet Bird after 50+ years
Boeing just posted a bunch of information and imagery on a program, the Model 853, that has been suppressed for a half century.
The Quiet Bird was a version of the Boeing Model 853 which started out as an Army observation airplane study, this version of the 853 study was used to test materials and shapes that would reduce radar cross sections (RCS). The model was built and tested in 1962- 1963 at Boeing Wichita, these test were on a radar range and no actual flight testing was done. The tests reportedly achieved excellent results in reduced radar cross section, but it was a bit ahead of its time and did not generate interest from the military. The lessons learned on Quiet Bird probably did influence the design of the Boeing AGM-86 Air Launched Cruise Missile. Internally Boeing continued to work on the non-metallic structures aspects that were pioneered with Quiet Bird, and that effort eventually lead to the use of increasingly larger and more complex composite structures in Boeing aircraft.
Of course, you know the Air Force would have shit a whole duck if the Army ever tried to get a jet-powered observation plane, especially in the 1960s. That’s why the Army was stuck with OV-1 Mohawks and OV-10 Broncs in Vietnam.
I gotta love “shit a whole duck”. Thanks !
On Mon, Dec 7, 2015 at 7:03 AM, laststandonzombieisland wrote:
> laststandonzombieisland posted: ” Boeing just posted a bunch of > information and imagery on a program, the Model 853, that has been > suppressed for a half century. The Quiet Bird was a version of the Boeing > Model 853 which started out as an Army observation airplane study, this > vers”